I’ve no interest in disenfranchising Voltarians – Akufo Addo

The President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has rubbished claims by some leaders and legislators of the National Democratic Congress that the purpose of the National Identification Cards is to disenfranchise some Ghanaians, particularly those from the Volta Region.

According to President Akufo-Addo, residents of the Volta Region, who live close to Togo, are aware of the “Carte nationale d’Identité”, Togo National ID card, and, described as unfortunate Ghana’s inability, for well over 8 years, to have her own National ID card.

To this end, the President noted that Parliament has passed a law, the contents of which are merely being implemented by the National Identification Authority.

“NIA has not refused anything other than what Parliament passed. The legislation that is insisting on passports and birth certificates is not the work of NIA, it is the work of Parliament. It is the law passed by Parliament. So, statements that the NIA is deliberately refusing this or that is unfortunate. It means the person or those who are saying this are not familiar with the legal situation,” the President said.

He continued, “I have no interest in disenfranchising any Ghanaian. The card is meant for Ghanaians, and that is why Parliament, with the full support of both sides of the house, the minority and majority, supported the new law that is being applied by the NIA. So, it is unfortunate that some people are approving and disapproving their own work.”

He noted, therefore, that there is no justification for anyone, let alone Minority MPs, to “come back and then say these particular people are doing this to disenfranchise x, y or z persons. We are not disenfranchising anybody. If you don’t have a birth certificate, passport, all you have to do is to produce a Ghanaian to vouch for you, and you get your card.”

President Akufo-Addo made this known on Monday, 9th July, 2018, when he commissioned the Anlo Shopping Centre, a project completed by the Akufo-Addo Government, at the commencement of his 3-day tour of the Volta Region.

The NIA card, the President stressed, is needed for “our planning and for the organization of our state”, assuring that “by the grace of God, it (the issuance of the NIA cards) will be completed in Akufo-Addo’s time.”

With his government having been in office for 18 months, President Akufo-Addo stated that all the programmes and policies he has implemented has affected and benefitted Ghanaians from every part of the country.

He noted that the first year of the implementation of the Free SHS programme, for example, is ensuring that, for the 2018/2019 academic year, 180,000 more students will be beneficiaries of the Free SHS programme. This, he said, would mean the recruitment of 4,000 more teachers.

“I am determined that every single child in this country, no matter where they are from, no matter whether their father has money or not, will go to school, at least to secondary school level,” he added.